In the case of a turbine, in particular a gas turbine, which is driven by means of a fossil fuel, a number of burners are generally provided, these being located in a combustion chamber in the turbine. The function of the burners is essentially to effect reliable ignition of a fuel mixture which is fed to the combustion chamber, in order to produce the hot gas required to drive the rotor blades of the turbine. In doing this the combustion process should convert the fuel mixture with the highest possible efficiency, while producing the lowest possible proportion of pollutants such as NOx.
To this end the fuel mixture fed to conventional burners is a fuel/air mix, combined at the same time with atomized water. To achieve this, the substances mentioned are fed to the burner via a lance which projects into a combustion space in the combustion chamber. Here, the primary function of the atomized water is to reduce the pollutants, particularly NOx, which are produced during the combustion process. The atomized water is fed in by injection into the center of the flame for the burner concerned.
A disadvantage of this method is that—in spite of its NOx-reducing effect—the direct injection of the water as mentioned, into the center of the flame, leads to an instability in the combustion process, particularly in respect of the stability of the flame produced by the burner, because the flame is partially extinguished, and/or inhibited by the water fed into it. If such extinction effects occur at several burners, the combustion process is unable to proceed in a stable and continuous manner.